Wordless Wednesday ~ 43: Rooftops in Crieff

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The Scottish Town of Crieff

It seems strange to me that a couple of months have passed since I visited Scotland.  But it is true!  It has been a crazy and busy time but my memories of the most lovely and idyllic holiday remain.  After our first day in which I took a walk around Lock Monzievaird, we drove on down to the nearby town of Crieff to see what there was to do. 

Crieff has a Tourist Information Centre which appears to be housed in an old church.  The ladies at the Centre are incredibly helpful and they really take the time to help each visitor plan their time in the area.  We left with loads of pamphlets and ideas and also a map showing us the way to the Crieff Visitor Centre back on the road to Loch Monzievaird.

Crieff is a market town and is famous for being a major cattle droving hub for hundreds of years.  I really loved the creepy architectural style of the town (and I mean ‘creepy’ in the best, most admiring kind of way!)

In the week that we were in Scotland, we spent most of our time in the council area of Perth and Kinross.  A ‘council area’ is similar to a county in England and it is a local government administrative area.  Perth and Kinross crosses the southern boundary of the Scottish Highlands so while we didn’t get to see huge mountains or majestic waterfalls, we did get to see breathtaking views wherever we went.   We visited Crieff, Aberfeldy and Pitlochry and you just had to look down the side streets to see incredible views like the one above.

We were rather amused to discover a dedicated Christmas store in Crieff.  The store is open all year round and we were amazed that they manage to stay in business!  I imagine the tourist trade helps somewhat as we certainly couldn’t resist buying personalised gifts for all of the grandchildren, nieces and godchildren in the family.

Their prices were really good too so perhaps that accounts for them staying in business!

If you follow the Scotland Here and Now blog, you will know that one of the biggest attractions to Scotland is their food and drink.  I didn’t sample nearly enough of those in my time in Scotland and that is one of the biggest reasons why I intend to return there!

We did visit this divine Whiskies and Cheese shop which was a lovely little shop full of… you guessed it, whisky and cheese.  I bought a lovely little orange and port pâté and I wished that I drank more whisky as they had a really impressive selection. 

And so with map in hand, the five intrepid travellers set off for Crieff Visitor Centre.

Wordless Wednesday ~ 39: Lamp Post

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Walking Around Loch Monzievaird

Shortly before I went away to Serbia, a colleague told me that she hoped it would be everything I was looking for.  When I came home overwhelmed and exhausted, it made me think about exactly what I wanted from my upcoming holiday to Scotland.  I had an idea of greenery and wide open spaces, lazy afternoons reading books while I looked out on to the loch* and visiting places steeped in history.  My boss had a good old laugh at that as the week we were up in Scotland was meant to be rainy, cold and grey and to top it all off, it was midge season.

I am more than pleased to say that I got my wish and we had a full week of the most incredible late summer weather topped up with a life affirming dose of greenery, blue skies and incredible nature.

Now I know that other people’s nature photographs can seem a bit boring sometimes but I hope you’ll enjoy taking this photo walk with me.  This is a walk I took around Loch Monzievaird on the first afternoon after we arrived.  It took 75 minutes and the closest word I can find to describe the experience would be exhilarating. 

Click on any of the images to enlarge them

Before I embarked on my walk, I took a look back up to the cabin.  Doesn’t it just look like the archetypal holiday cabin in the woods?

I tried macro photography for the first time this holiday.  I did not realise how very hard it is and the two photos above are the only ones out of quite a few that came out reasonably well.  It makes me appreciate all of your macro shots so much more now!

I think it is pretty safe to say that I will never, ever in a hundred years tire of this view (and that I will be back to visit Loch Monzievaird).

I walked up a little hill and saw this ancient structure standing on it.  It looked like it was only about 15 feet by 10 feet in diameter.  We think it might have been where they lead their sheep at night.  The sheep would have stayed in the bottom and the men would have slept a level above them, benefitting from the warmth that the sheep would have emitted. It looks like wooden beams would have run into the wall in the third photo above and that was shot at an upwards angle.  Although crumbling at the top, it does look like there were some defensive structures built in and that would have been protection from marauders.  Due to the precarious state of the building, entry was prohibited but I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know that I had a run in with some stinging nettle in order to get you these photos.

I was quite enchanted to see how these stairs above seemed to disappear into nothing but lush, green forest.  It was really beautiful and green and abundant in the forest and soon I arrived again at the water's edge. 

I soon came to a fork in the path and decided to go right, along the path that was less travelled.  It was a good decision as the path went back into the woods.  I soon came upon a tumbled-down house and a fence. 

This massive tree had obviously fallen down on the house one stormy night as it looked like it had been quite intact before the incident with the tree.

By now, I was on the other side of the loch and all of a sudden, I was in a meadow.

 

Laugh, if you will, but I totally had an Edward and Bella** moment and laid back in the meadow watching the clouds go by for a good quarter of an hour.

Back on the path, I just loved how the edges of the path was dotted with little yellow flowers (you might need to enlarge the photo to see them).

I clowned around on those tree skeletons for a while, as I phoned Stephen and asked him if he could see me.  He made me clown around and jump up and down for quite a while before owning up that yes, he could see me very clearly.

All too soon, I was on the other side of the loch.  Just right of centre in the photo are the tree skeletons.

Then al that was left to do was to hop over the stream next to my cabin and then I was back ‘home’ again.  What a fabulous walk!  If you have ever been thinking of visiting Scotland than don’t delay!  It is gorgeous and you certainly can’t go wrong with Loch Monzievaird.

* Loch is the Irish and Scottish Gaelic term for a lake or a sea inlet.
** Twilight reference for men and non-Twilight readers.

Wordless Wednesday ~ 38: Doorway

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Drummond Castle Gardens as seen from the vegetable gardens.